Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A Good Kick, Does it Matter To New Swimmers?

A Good Kick :Does It Matter If A Beginner Kicks Properly?

You know you can do without kicking at all and still learn to swim!

Let's Face it lots of people learn to swim and never learn to kick properly and then there are others that are unable to kick; not just people with disabilities either. I had one student that was "normal" in every way out of the water. He ran and jumped and played like every other child but he could not kick no matter what I did to help him.

But now that I've set he cat amongst the pidgins, let me state that the whole process of learning to swim is much harder if you don't kick.

Kicking makes swimming easier for beginners for one major reason: it helps to keep your body level in the water.

Now there are other reasons: improved propulsion and better directional control as well as better stability in the water. But compared to keeping the body high in the water they are just minor.

Better Streamline

A swimmer who's body is high in the water has better streamline and way less friction whilst swimming

Now there are some coaches that train their athletes to swim at about 45 deg in the water and that may be great for elite swimmers but for those who are not at that level yet, you need to reach a point, where you are moving through the water with relative ease, before you can expect to move on to more advance techniques.

If your Legs drop in the water you are confronting a whole lot more water resistance than if you are swimming level in the water. The reason that some coaches work at training their athletes to swim at a 45 deg angle is that they maintain that once in that position you can travel a lot faster just as an hydrofoil does. This may or may not be true but one thing that is for certain, getting into that hydrofoil position requires a lot more power than the most if not all beginner swimmers can generate.

Therefore as a new swimmer it is much better to establish a good streamline body position and that is most easily acquired from a good kick.